Sorry, all I could think of when I saw the title of the thread... Lot's of great ideas in here, this is also my 1st winter with chickens so we'll see how it goes...
Winter is Coming! Checklists, tips, advice for a newbie
- Thread starter LadyCluck77
- Start date
Sorry, all I could think of when I saw the title of the thread... Lot's of great ideas in here, this is also my 1st winter with chickens so we'll see how it goes...
This thread has moved along quickly so thought I'd post my questions again. Sorry for the repetition!
I have one hen (Greenie) that has been kept by herself due to an attack and I've not been able to integrate her back into the flock. Not sure how she'll fair as she doesn't have anyone to roost with or cuddle with when she gets cold.
Do you think she'll be OK by herself? Glad for any suggestions or comments.
Oh, one more question - lots of my hens have no feathers on their backs and they dont' seem to be growing back in. If it was from a previous mean/rough rooster or mites or pecking amongst themselves, I don't know, but we've had them since April and they are still pretty bare-backed. Will this affect their ability to stay warm?
Appreciate any comments or suggestions!
I have one hen (Greenie) that has been kept by herself due to an attack and I've not been able to integrate her back into the flock. Not sure how she'll fair as she doesn't have anyone to roost with or cuddle with when she gets cold.
Do you think she'll be OK by herself? Glad for any suggestions or comments.
Oh, one more question - lots of my hens have no feathers on their backs and they dont' seem to be growing back in. If it was from a previous mean/rough rooster or mites or pecking amongst themselves, I don't know, but we've had them since April and they are still pretty bare-backed. Will this affect their ability to stay warm?
Appreciate any comments or suggestions!
Take it one day at a time. Have some heat source available if you need it, but for now, I'd wait it out. Maybe the cold will jump start the production of downy feathers. If you use the deep litter method in your coop, you could leave some extra litter in there for them to nestle into if all else fails. You could search here and see if anyone has ever used anything (food, salves, whatever) to promote feather growth. It is worth a shot considering the variety of home-remedy types we have here (no judgment on that score, JS). Check back in November and tell us how it goes.
Time will allow your birds to acclimate. They will adjust over time. However if the temps jump down really quick soon after you arrive in South Dakota, you can always add a tiny bit of heat, just enough to warm up the air around them a few degrees. Over the next passing week, you can slowly remove or move the heat farther away until they seem to be adapted. They are hardier than you think. Of course if you see a bird shivering due to cold, you will need to offer up more heat.
To give them a boost, you could wrap the roost bar with a towel to keep the feet warm, make sure all the birds roost in a row and the one on the end you could add a fuzzy pad on the side attached to the roost bar, so that each bird is snuggled in.
Good luck in South Dakota! I used to live in Keystone SD and got the heck out of there when it started snowing in late September! Not to mention, snow in June as well! UGH!
- Mar 24, 2013
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Lots of great info in this thread. This is my first year too with my 5 hens. We live in Michigan about 3 miles from Lake Michigan where the winds and snow are brutal!
I've been thinking and planning for winter for months!!! No Joke!!!
My coop is 4'x'4'x4' and has electric (currently running my $5 automatic coop door made with a car radio antenna and two wifi cameras so I can keep my eyes on the girls).
JetDog here at BYC posted on how to construct a 5 gallon bucket feeder which I made and will keep in the coop. It should hold enough food for a month!
I've thought about MANY options for keeping their water from freezing and I will either use the "cookie tin water heater" that I read about here at BYC and made in March, or I will purchase a heated dog dish and put the plastic waterer in it and hopefully keep it from freezing. I'll keep the water in the coop as well. Other than that, I don't know.
I plan to take some free tarps I got at Harbor Freight and put around my run to keep the snow out (at least on the top and back side).
After reading this thread I don't plan to use any heat source unless it gets EXTREMELY cold, I might put a 40 watt bulb in the coop for the night (and hook it to my door timer so it turns off in the mornings).
Here are some pictures of my feeder, cookie tin water heater, and a coupon for Harbor Freight if you want to get some free tarps (good till 10/23/13).
I've been thinking and planning for winter for months!!! No Joke!!!
My coop is 4'x'4'x4' and has electric (currently running my $5 automatic coop door made with a car radio antenna and two wifi cameras so I can keep my eyes on the girls).
JetDog here at BYC posted on how to construct a 5 gallon bucket feeder which I made and will keep in the coop. It should hold enough food for a month!
I've thought about MANY options for keeping their water from freezing and I will either use the "cookie tin water heater" that I read about here at BYC and made in March, or I will purchase a heated dog dish and put the plastic waterer in it and hopefully keep it from freezing. I'll keep the water in the coop as well. Other than that, I don't know.
I plan to take some free tarps I got at Harbor Freight and put around my run to keep the snow out (at least on the top and back side).
After reading this thread I don't plan to use any heat source unless it gets EXTREMELY cold, I might put a 40 watt bulb in the coop for the night (and hook it to my door timer so it turns off in the mornings).
Here are some pictures of my feeder, cookie tin water heater, and a coupon for Harbor Freight if you want to get some free tarps (good till 10/23/13).
Get a good thermometer/hygrometer so you can monitor conditions inside the coop.
In the summer, I use sand as coop bedding. It's cool to the touch, and a good exfoliant for their feet... and easy to clean. But in the winter, it's too cold, and they hate it... So, I switch to wood pellets which, using water, I break down enough that it can be sifted through a quarter inch mesh. By spring, it's almost entirely broken down to sawdust and starts getting a little dustier than I care for, but that's about the time I swap it out for sand. The sawdust goes right to the compost bin, where it supercharges it and breaks down really fast. In the photo below you can see where I offered a pan of Stall Dry for dustbathing in... They never used it... and I suspect it was because it was absolutely frigid. So, I won't be offering it this winter. As you can see, I only keep food in the coop. No water. This keeps the humidity low.
So, starting in October, I start tarping the run to start sheltering it from excess moisture and wind. These are heavy duty clear tarps that I found on Tarpaflex.com on sale and I just zip tied them to the run. As you can see, I leave the bottom 12" of the run untarped... Airflow is important and completely tarping it up would restrict the fresh air component of my hens' lifestyle more than they would like. I have an automatic chicken door that is set to open at 4am in the summer, and 6 am in the winter...All winter long I would peek out there first thing in the morning and catch them all lined up at the front under the coop to watch the sunrise.
Around Thanksgiving I finish tarping up the run. But down here in Kansas City there are still some warm days, so I don't seal up the door. The first snow was very gentle, so even with the door uncovered the run stayed snow free. But starting in December, the plexi windows were latched down and stayed that way until March.
Come January though... it was getting really really cold. So we covered the door with some plexi panels. And when there was enough snow, I went ahead and piled it up around the bottom 12 inches. This was also about the time I used some 6 mil plastic to cover the wall and roof vents on the west side all of the way and the roof vents on the east side about 75%. The hygrometer on my remote weather station thing came in handy here. Never got above 50% humidity in the coop until the chicken door popped open and spilled chickens into the run.
During the summer months, I toss all my grass clippings into the run. Without the tarps over the run, that 2"-3" layer of dried grass is what kept their run mud free and dry. During the winter though... a deeper and warmer bedding is needed for them to nestle into. Putting whole straw bales up against the sides also gave them fun things to attack and jump up on should they not care to be down on floor level. I also have corner roosts for that though... which they take advantage of year round. They also helped to baffle the airflow because the tarps don't cover the bottom 12 inches, except on the north end there.
On some snowy days some of the snow would blow in... but as you can see, it's not a crazy amount. On the really cold nights though, I would take a rake into the run and pull all of the loose straw up and pile it up to block off the bottom... which the chickens delighted in kicking back to the middle every morning.
And then there was the day I caught them dustbathing in the run... during a snow storm.
In addition to pulling the straw up against the sides of the run on exceptionally cold nights, I would also treat them to a warm pan of what I call Sticky Chicky before bedtime or first thing in the morning depending on the forecast... It's basically oatmeal cooked with milk with some of their feed, a handful of scratch and a dollop of plain yogurt. Sending them to bed with crops full of a warm hearty meal seemed like a nice thing to do for them. But you must be careful, as they will gladly tear your arm off to be the first beak in the pan.
Temps down here in KC hover between 20 and 40 degrees all winter long, but we do get down to 0 around mid January, and on those nights I placed a heated landscaping brick in the coop with them. And there was a couple of times I needed to apply a little bit of bag balm on my leghorn's comb... it was just looking dry and chapped, but not frostbitten.
Up in Maine, you have the benefit of more snow than we get... Deep snow is actually a little bit of a blessing... because it can help insulate your coop some. Down here deep and persistent snow is rare... so, one thing we can do more readily is get our girls out on the warmer days for some limited "ranging" time...
I think the important thing is... be attentive. If your flock is small and they are more pet like in nature, you can and probably will go more out of your way to make them more comfortable... if you have hundreds of birds, that level of care and attention becomes a little more difficult... and as history shows, chickens are ok with that.
In the summer, I use sand as coop bedding. It's cool to the touch, and a good exfoliant for their feet... and easy to clean. But in the winter, it's too cold, and they hate it... So, I switch to wood pellets which, using water, I break down enough that it can be sifted through a quarter inch mesh. By spring, it's almost entirely broken down to sawdust and starts getting a little dustier than I care for, but that's about the time I swap it out for sand. The sawdust goes right to the compost bin, where it supercharges it and breaks down really fast. In the photo below you can see where I offered a pan of Stall Dry for dustbathing in... They never used it... and I suspect it was because it was absolutely frigid. So, I won't be offering it this winter. As you can see, I only keep food in the coop. No water. This keeps the humidity low.
So, starting in October, I start tarping the run to start sheltering it from excess moisture and wind. These are heavy duty clear tarps that I found on Tarpaflex.com on sale and I just zip tied them to the run. As you can see, I leave the bottom 12" of the run untarped... Airflow is important and completely tarping it up would restrict the fresh air component of my hens' lifestyle more than they would like. I have an automatic chicken door that is set to open at 4am in the summer, and 6 am in the winter...All winter long I would peek out there first thing in the morning and catch them all lined up at the front under the coop to watch the sunrise.
Around Thanksgiving I finish tarping up the run. But down here in Kansas City there are still some warm days, so I don't seal up the door. The first snow was very gentle, so even with the door uncovered the run stayed snow free. But starting in December, the plexi windows were latched down and stayed that way until March.
Come January though... it was getting really really cold. So we covered the door with some plexi panels. And when there was enough snow, I went ahead and piled it up around the bottom 12 inches. This was also about the time I used some 6 mil plastic to cover the wall and roof vents on the west side all of the way and the roof vents on the east side about 75%. The hygrometer on my remote weather station thing came in handy here. Never got above 50% humidity in the coop until the chicken door popped open and spilled chickens into the run.
During the summer months, I toss all my grass clippings into the run. Without the tarps over the run, that 2"-3" layer of dried grass is what kept their run mud free and dry. During the winter though... a deeper and warmer bedding is needed for them to nestle into. Putting whole straw bales up against the sides also gave them fun things to attack and jump up on should they not care to be down on floor level. I also have corner roosts for that though... which they take advantage of year round. They also helped to baffle the airflow because the tarps don't cover the bottom 12 inches, except on the north end there.
On some snowy days some of the snow would blow in... but as you can see, it's not a crazy amount. On the really cold nights though, I would take a rake into the run and pull all of the loose straw up and pile it up to block off the bottom... which the chickens delighted in kicking back to the middle every morning.
And then there was the day I caught them dustbathing in the run... during a snow storm.
In addition to pulling the straw up against the sides of the run on exceptionally cold nights, I would also treat them to a warm pan of what I call Sticky Chicky before bedtime or first thing in the morning depending on the forecast... It's basically oatmeal cooked with milk with some of their feed, a handful of scratch and a dollop of plain yogurt. Sending them to bed with crops full of a warm hearty meal seemed like a nice thing to do for them. But you must be careful, as they will gladly tear your arm off to be the first beak in the pan.
Temps down here in KC hover between 20 and 40 degrees all winter long, but we do get down to 0 around mid January, and on those nights I placed a heated landscaping brick in the coop with them. And there was a couple of times I needed to apply a little bit of bag balm on my leghorn's comb... it was just looking dry and chapped, but not frostbitten.
Up in Maine, you have the benefit of more snow than we get... Deep snow is actually a little bit of a blessing... because it can help insulate your coop some. Down here deep and persistent snow is rare... so, one thing we can do more readily is get our girls out on the warmer days for some limited "ranging" time...
I think the important thing is... be attentive. If your flock is small and they are more pet like in nature, you can and probably will go more out of your way to make them more comfortable... if you have hundreds of birds, that level of care and attention becomes a little more difficult... and as history shows, chickens are ok with that.
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Awesome thread.... I am mixing and matching a few of these ideas on here to keep my chickens "happy" this winter. As a first-time chicken mom I am nervous and excited to see how my chickens fair this winter. 
I live in Northeast Ohio..... so the weather can vary day to day. I've heard from many people that the cold will not kill a chicken, but a draft will. so I have taking preventative measures against that..... I am still wondering about my water sources so I don't have to carry water back and forth multiple times a day... Also how I'm going to cover the chicken run so they're still encouraged to go outside but without having to wade through a foot of snow...... I suppose this could get interesting quickly lol
I live in Northeast Ohio..... so the weather can vary day to day. I've heard from many people that the cold will not kill a chicken, but a draft will. so I have taking preventative measures against that..... I am still wondering about my water sources so I don't have to carry water back and forth multiple times a day... Also how I'm going to cover the chicken run so they're still encouraged to go outside but without having to wade through a foot of snow...... I suppose this could get interesting quickly lol
I totally forgot to mention how I handle the water thing.
I have a 3 gallon plastic waterer.
Chickens don't drink when they are asleep. And if you are not using lights, they will sleep all night long. So... On the nights where the temps were forecast to dip below freezing for more than a couple of hours... I just brought the waterer in the house the night before and carried it out with me first thing in the morning.
On days where the highs were between 25 degrees and 32 degrees... it took ALL DAY for the water to start freezing, having started off at room temp in the morning. The shortest day of the year is something like 9 and a half hours...
On colder days, I would top off their water with hot water before taking it out, and check on it around 3 or 4pm... Rarely did the container of water get frozen... but I did have to break a thin skin of ice in the tray a couple of times... Sometimes just taking a 2 cup measuring cup of boiling hot water out there with me and pouring a little of that into the tray to thaw it was all that I needed to do to keep the water accessible. The remaining boiling hot water I'd just put in the container to raise it's temp enough to refresh it's thermal mass.
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